Try Not To Do Anything Stupid
by Caskett93
Summary: What could have happened had William not done anything stupid? Would Jack have saved them all or would him only care for his needs? Willabeth with Sparrabeth moments. This is just the start, I'm a Sparrabeth all the way!
1. Chapter 1

**1 – Try not to do anything stupid**

Jack expected it. How could he not? Barbossa had his knife ready to strike so the lad _had_ to do something stupid. Like trying to hit him with an oar.

Jack stopped Will before the wood could contact his skull and smirked at him.

"I seemed to remember 'bout asking you not to do anything stupid." He pushed the oar down, knowing that he will be able to defend himself if William tried to strike him again.

"I'm not gonna be your leverage." He hissed back at him.

"But see, you will be, lad, one way or another. You can risk being me leverage and maybe getting out of all this alive or you can try it on your own. Barbossa will do the ritual with 'Lizabeth, finding out the truth. He will forever follow you around and you still won't get the lass." He put his hands on his shoulder and looked him in the eyes. "I want my ship back, you want the lass back and Barbossa want to be alive again. Everyone gain something from this, but you have to trust me, savvy?"

"They are going to kill her!" He hissed looking at the scene behind Jack back.

"No, they are not." He pushed Will in front of the rock, blocking him between it and his body, letting him watch while Barbossa cut Miss Swann hand and let the medallion drop into the chest. "See that? Barbossa had let his rage and blood lust condemn him one too many time. He wouldn't kill his only hope." Jack smirked and let him go. "Now, can you really try to do what I'm saying and not do anything stupid?" He asked again taking the lad hand in his. He didn't wait for an answer, he took out his knife and cut him, collecting the spilled blood in a little empty flask. "Stay here and only come out when I call you, savvy?"

Will nodded.

"... was your father William Turner?" Was asking Barbossa to Elizabeth, the medallion in his hand, when Jack came out from his hiding place.

"No, it wasn't." He said making all the pirates turn toward him. He loved a good entrance.

"Jack..." All his old crew murmured around him, surprised to see him alive.

"How the blaze did you get off that Island?" Barbossa asked, coming down toward him, sword ready to strike. Jack saw the medallion fall from his clutch and roll on the floor of the cave behind him.

"When you marooned me on that godforsaken spit of land, you forgot one very important thing." He smirked looking at his enemy. "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow." He said it as if didn't need any other explanation, then Jack looked at Elizabeth, to see if she was okay. He was unable to understand the emotions on her face, but saw that she recognized him from his stay in Port Royal.

"Ah, well," He walked toward him until he was mere inches from his face. "I won't be making that mistake again." He turned toward the crew. "Gents, you all remember Captain Jack Sparrow?" There were aye and yes all around. "Kill him." Every single pirate pointed his gun toward him.

"The Girl, Miss Swann's blood didn't work, did it?" He said with his smirk still in place, he had to wait only some moments.

"Hold your fire!" Barbossa spitted out, turning around with an angered expression on his face. "You know whose blood we need?"

"I know whose blood you need." Jack whispered like it was his best kept secret. "And I'm willing to give it to you, if you give me something in exchange."

"And, why should I?" Barbossa and the crew laughed. "We could always torture the name out of you." All around everyone seemed okay with the option, but Jack knew that it was only a last pitiful try from Barbossa to get what he wanted without giving back to him what was rightly his. The Pearl.

"Yes, you could, but you know that I know that you won't kill me, because you want to know what I know. So, torture will be unsuccessful because I'll know that death won't follow until you know what I know, and I know that if I tell you what I know you will kill me anyway after knowing it, so you know that I won't tell you anyway. Savvy?" Everyone, even Elizabeth, looked at him confused and he tried to not let them see that he was amused by their reaction to his confusing speech. Let them underestimate his brain capacity.

"I see you didn't change much in your time on the Island, Jack." Barbossa rolled his eyes. "But I understood what you just blabbed and even if it could gut me to admit it, you are right. What is your price?" He sighed.

"The Black Pear for starter," He smirked happily about getting what he wanted.

"What else?" Barbossa asked knowing that it wasn't over.

"Safety, for me, 'Lizbeth and whoever is in me crew. Do this and I will tell you the name."

"So, you expect to leave me standing on some beach with nothing but a name and your word it's the one I need and watch you sail away in my ship?" Barbossa asked doubtful.

"No. I expect to leave you standing on some beach with absolutely no name at all, watching me sail away on my ship and then I'll shout the name back to you. Savvy?" He knew that Barbossa would never accept the bargain. Point of fact he started to unsheathe his sword again. "Kidding, Hector, you have no humor at all. And don't worry, I won't maroon you here with your crew. I let you have the ship that brought me here to go wherever your black, sad, heart will desire." Jack added with a look of fake compassion. "How if we proceed like this. You let me men on board of the Pearl, but keep me here, then you let your men go back on the Interceptor, me ship, and when you are at safe distance I will scream to you the name."

"No, you will tell me while we'll be alone here, only you, me and the Miss." Barbossa proposed to him, not falling for his trick. "I'll let you leave untouched. I swear it on the code." Jack thought about it and it seemed good enough. Not a fool proof plan was his, but it was the best he could come up with in so little time.

"Accepted." He put forward his hand and waited for Barbossa to shake it. "Lad, come out and go to the Interceptor, tell the crew to take the Pearl and wait for me and Lizzie."

"It's Miss Swann for you!" She protested from near the chest. She must still be angered by his little threats during their brief encounter in Port Royal. Women were ungrateful creatures, he was saving her for the second time in less than a week and she didn't have a kind word for him. Jack looked at her saw that she recognized William, but she was smart enough to not let the thing show on her face.

"But Jack..."

" _Captain_ if you please, lad." Jack corrected him annoyed, trying to stop whatever no sense that William would say, probably getting them into big trouble. "Do what I said, we will be after you."

William seemed to want to protest again but then he looked at Elizabeth that shook her head a little, letting him understand that he needed to do as he was said.

Jack, Barbossa and Elizabeth, moved to the entrance of the cave and looked while Will went first to the Interceptor then, with the whole crew, went to the Black Pearl, that was anchored empty inside the natural port of the Isla de Muerta.

"You know what to do scumbag, go to the Interceptor and prepare it to sail!" Barbossa said to his men. The whole crew piled in three of the five longboats and reached the ship.

"Here we are Jack, now give me the name." Barbossa looked at him.

"I can't give you a name, my friend." Jack smirked putting himself in front of Elizabeth.

"You lied to me!" Barbossa took out his sword, ready to fight and probably kill him.

"No, I never lied, I know the name and I would tell you it if it would help, but why should I when it's a lot easier to give you this." He took out the little flask with William's blood inside. "It's Bootstrap Bill son's blood." Barbossa took a step toward him, but Jack stopped him. "Ah, ah. I wouldn't come nearer." He opened the flask. "It will be so easy to drop it in the water if something had to happen to us."

Barbossa stopped and looked angrily at him.

"You have what you want, Jack. Give me the flask."

"I will throw it to you when I'm sure that I'm far enough away." He half turned to Elizabeth, keeping one eye still on Barbossa. "Please, on the boat, Lizzie." Jack saw Barbossa smirking and didn't understand way he was happy. He was about to lose anything why should he smile?

"Thank you, Jack." He said. Jack turned confused and almost didn't see the little monkey steal the flask from him.

"Bugger!" He turned and pushed Elizabeth in front of him but when they reached one of the longboat they found out that there were no oars. Barbossa had tricked him.

"You promised to let us go untouched!" Elizabeth protested to him, and it was only in that moment that Jack understood how buggered they were.

"He did. But I forgot to tell him where and when." He gave her a sad smile before turning toward Barbossa that was smirking, manacles in his hands. "Well played."

YoHoYoHoAPirate'sLifeForMe

"Jack was tricked!" Gibbs told the crew when he saw his Captain being chained by Barbossa.

"We should go back! Save Elizabeth and Jack!" Will said, getting ready to put the longboat down again. "At the count of three." No one moved to help him.

"We have the Pearl, and there is the code to follow." Gibbs said looking around to the crew. He liked Jack, but he won't risk his life for him and Jack knew that. He was the one that told him to keep to the code.

"We can't leave them with that... that..."

"We will, Mr. Turner, if you want to live to see another day." Will could see that no one would help him. "We can't do much for Jack, those men are immortal, they would kill us. We can only hope that he will find a way to save himself, but for now we should disappear, Barbossa won't let us go with his ship if he can stop us. We must not give him the possibility."

"Aye!" Come from the whole crew.

"Very well scumbags! Man the braces!" Gibbs started to scream orders. "Let down and haul to run free!"

Will could only watch while the Island and the Interceptor became little dot on the horizon, in his hand his old medallion that Barbossa had let fall at Jack feet and he took back. With that in his hand he was sure that Barbossa will not hurt Elizabeth at least, because if he did the medallion will fall to the bottom of the Caribbean ocean.


	2. Chapter 2

**2 - Marooned again**

"What would they do to us?" Asked Elizabeth when the crew left them alone in the brig of the Interceptor.

"If I know Barbossa, and I think I do, he will leave us on some empty Island so to condemn us to death while he will follow the Pearl to get it back before doing the damn ritual." Jack answered honestly to her, knowing that there was no point in lying to spar her feelings, since she will find out the truth soon enough.

"How can they catch up? Wasn't the Pearl the fastest ship in the Caribbean?"

"It is, but the men on boards are only human, they have needs, while that on the Interceptor, that is almost as fast, are undead and have no needs at all but that to follow the Pearl." He looked out from the little porthole, trying to understand where they were going. "What I can't seem to understand is how they can find the sea lane."

After that both stayed in silence, knowing that there was absolutely nothing that they could do to help their friends or themselves.

"Well, _Captain_ Sparrow, Lady Swann, we reached your final stop." Barbossa said, coming down with Pintel and Ragetti.

"Go on, Poppet, go! Walk the plank!" Pintel laughed at the lady while some of the men of the crew pushed her forward on the plank with their sword.

"It does seem a shame to lose something so fine, don't it lads?" Barbossa smirked at her while all around aye come from the pirates. "So, I'll be having that dress back before you go." The men chuckled while Elizabeth took it off, a disgusted look on her face.

"It goes with your black heart." She bravely said while throwing it at Barbossa. He ignored her and pressed the dress on his face, sniffing it.

"Ooh, it's still warm!" He threw it to the crew and Jack thought that it was a shame that it was wasted like that on people that could not feel warm or the smell of a woman.

Elizabeth walked down the plank again while the pirates incited her to jump. She turned around looking back at him one last time. She was afraid that they won't let him go with her and he could understand her well. He gave her a little smirk, trying to reassure her, but he wasn't sure if she saw it because one of the pirates stomped on the plank making her fall.

The whole crew laughed and he laughed with them.

The men pushed him toward the plank, he turned around and tried to see if he could come up with a plan. He recognized that damn Island.

"I'd really rather hoped we were past all this." Jack said to Barbossa that put an arm around him and smirked.

"Jack… Jack. Did ya not notice? That be the same little island that we made you Governor of on our last little trip." He pointed the Island to him and he made a show of watching it.

"I did notice."

"Perhaps you'll be able to conjure up another miraculous escape…but I doubt it." He unsheathed his sword and brandished it at Jack's throat. "Off you go."

"Last time, you left me a pistol with one shot." He needed the pistol. He had to hope to be able to escape the Island again and what better and ironic revenge then using the one shot Barbossa left him with, not one but two times, to kill him?

"By the powers, you're right. Where be Jack's pistol? Bring it forward." Barbossa sheathed the sword and took his belongings.

"Seeing as there's two of us, a gentleman…would give us a pair of pistols." He tried it, even knowing that Barbossa wouldn't do it.

"It'll be one pistol as before, and you can be the gentleman and shoot the lady and starve to death yourself." The Captain said before throwing his belongings into the sea. That he didn't expect. Without too much thoughts about his bound hands he jumped behind them, he could swim very well even in that condition.

He reached his sword, compass and pistol and then started to swim toward the spit of land, easily catching up with Elizabeth.

He freed his hand and turned around, looking again at a ship sailing away without him.

"That's the second time I've had to watch that man sail away with one of me ships." He didn't waste time, he started to search for the place where the rum-runners hid the rum, all the while listening to Elizabeth blab about things she knew nothing about.

"But you were marooned on this island before, weren't you? So, we can escape in the same way you did then."

"To what point and purpose, young Missy?" He turned toward her. He was angry, not at her, but at the situation. "They will take the Black Pearl back and go do their damn ritual, and unless you have a rudder and a lot of sails hidden in that bodice – unlikely - young Mr. Turner and the whole crew will be dead long before you can reach them."

"But you're Captain Jack Sparrow." He tried to shut her blabbing out while he tried to remember where it was the rum. "You vanished from under the eyes of seven agents of the East India Company. You sacked Nassau Port without even firing a shot. Are you the pirate I've read about or not?" She stopped him and looked him in the eyes. He was a little surprised that she read about him, but still that wouldn't let them escape their fate. "How did you escape last time?"

He licked his lips, she was beautiful, then he pushed her back and decided that the truth was the only way to let her see how fucked they were.

"Last time… I was here a grand total of three days, all right? Last time," He opened the secret cellar. "... the rum-runners used this island as a cache." He went down into the cellar and took some bottles. "Came by, and I was able to barter a passage off. From the looks of things, they've long been out of business. Probably…have your bloody friend Norrington to thank for that." He climbed out. She seemed angry with him because his escape wasn't as awesome as she thought.

"So that's it then? That's the secret grand adventure of the infamous Jack Sparrow?" He wanted to correct her, but he let it go because she would probably bite his head off, and while he liked a little bit of pain in his life, that wasn't the kind he was thinking about. "You spent three days lying on a beach, drinking rum?"

"Welcome to the Caribbean, luv." He left her with a bottle and took a swing from his. He will need it.

He started to gather some dry wood to build a fire to warm them when the sun would go down.

Elizabeth came to him sometime later, a contrite expression on her angelic face.

"I'm sorry for attacking you like that. You are right, we can't do much while on this island, so why not to drink and have fun for this night?" She asked him, uncorking her bottle and taking a tiny sip.

Jack looked at her a little skeptical, he could see that she had something in mind, she was very much like him, maybe even a little too much for his peace of mind, but in the end, he decided that he didn't care. Whatever she wanted from him she could probably take it anyway.

"I think that you have a good brain on you, 'Lizbeth." He smirked and took another big gulp from his bottle. "And at what should we drink?"

"At the Caribbean." She hit his bottle with hers. "Drink up me 'earties yo ho." She singed in a whisper with a little smile.

"What was that?" Jack asked liking her voice.

"It's a sea shanty that my mother thought me when I was little." She blushed a little while answering. "My father never understood my curiosity for pirates, but my mother did."

"Can you teach it to me? It seems a lovely one." Jack asked her, wanting to hear her sing again.

" _Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me._

 _We pillage, we plunder, we rifle, and loot,_

 _Drink up, me 'earties yo ho._

 _We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot,_

 _Drink up, me 'earties yo ho._ "

He liked the song, but he was sure that was partially because of her voice. Elizabeth taught him all the stanzas and then they sang it together, dancing and running around the fire.

Jack was a lot drunk when he finally could remember every word of the song right.

" _We're devils and black sheep and really bad eggs. Drink up, me 'earties yo ho. Yo ho yo ho, a pirate's life for me._ " They sang together even after the sun disappeared behind the horizon.

"I love this song!" He screamed while Elizabeth laughed. He took her arms and they spun around, laughing and singing. " _Really bad eggs! Ooh!_ " He fell on the sand.

He was drunker than he thought, but it really didn't matter, he was having fun. He took her arm and pulled her down with him, while she laughed. "When I get the Pearl back, I'm gonna teach it to the whole crew, and we'll sing it all the time!" He was deadly serious; every man of his crew should know the song.

"And you'll be positively the most fearsome pirate in the Spanish Main." Elizabeth said with a tone that was a little bit sarcastic and a little bit serious. She got too near him, his eyes started to see double, so he got back a little trying to reunite the two Lizzie he was seeing.

"Not just the Spanish Main, luv." He squeezed his eyes, trying not to let her become two again. "The entire ocean. The entire wo'ld." He pointed to the sea, trying to let her understand his dream. "Wherever we want to go, we'll go. That's what a ship is, you know." He wanted to tell her, he wanted to explain to her why the Pearl was so important to him. "It's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails that's what a ship needs but what a ship is…what the Black Pearl really is…is freedom." He could feel his heart beating a little faster while he thought about the freedom that the Black Pearl gave him for those short years he sailed on it.

Jack looked at Elizabeth and saw that she was impressed by his speech.

She looked him in the eyes and gave him a little smile before pushing her lips on his. They were so soft and tasted of the rum she was drinking. He was so stupefied by the happenings that he recoiled back and almost instantly regretted it. He was drunk, but he knew that the young lass believe herself in love with the whelp. He wanted another taste if it was to be the only taste he could get of this goddess. Jack kissed her a little less chastely and she kissed him back. He put one of his hand in her hair, enthralled by their softness, the other hand was needed to him to keep his balance and not fall.

She stopped the kiss, needing to breath. They remained motionless for some seconds, only looking the other in the eyes, then Elizabeth traced the profile of his nose and his lips with her thumb. The innocent act making him tremble a little. Never he had been treated like this, like he was precious someway.

Jack saw the exact moment when Elizabeth remembered where she was and with whom. She still smiled at him, but her eyes became sad.

He hugged her to him, letting her head rest on his shoulder.

"Jack, it must be really terrible for you to be trapped on this island." Her voice was so sad. He needed to lift her mood a little. He liked their banter, maybe a little flirting would help, and maybe she would kiss him again. It was a win/win situation.

"Oh, yes." He tried to smirk at her, but he wasn't sure that the effect was right because he couldn't feel his face anymore for the amount of rum he had. "But the company is infinitely better than last time, I think. The scenery has definitely improved." He pulled her nearer his chest.

"Mr. Sparrow, I'm not entirely sure that I've had enough rum to allow that kind of talk." She was smirking back at him and in that second he had a vision of her.

She wore trouser and shirt of fine material, she had a black jacket and her hair where tied so to not get in front of her eyes. She had a beautiful sword sheathed at her belt and she was sailing the Black Pearl with a huge smile on her face.

The vision disappeared as it came. And he remembered that he wanted her to laugh.

"I know exactly what you mean, love." He curled his mustaches and she smiled amused. Jackpot.

"To freedom." He looked at her, and then at the bottle from which she had drunk all the evening.

"To the Black Pearl." He cheered back hitting her bottle before taking a big drink.

He gulped down and gulped down and then all became black.


	3. Chapter 3

**3 – Good decision for the wrong reasons**

Elizabeth put down her bottle and looked at him.

What just happened wasn't in her plans, she had acted on a spur of the moment feeling.

They were having fun, lot of it. She couldn't remember the last time she felt so happy, careless and free. The way Jack talked about the Pearl got to her. Listening to him she understood that she could see herself gaining that type of freedom that a ship could give. She had wanted a taste of it, so she had kissed him.

It was brief and chaste, on her part, but still she had felt her heart beat faster than ever. Then Jack kissed her with more passion and she hadn't been able to think. He tasted a lot of rum, but she did too, even if she hadn't drunk as much as him. His lips had been soft on hers, not at all what she expected from a pirate, but still demanding.

She smiled and pushed away some of his dread-locks from his face, a warm feeling spreading inside her chest when he seemed to follow her light caress, trying maybe to capture the warmth of her hand.

Elizabeth looked a little around, stupidly afraid of being seen, before using one of her finger to trace the profile of his nose, of his jaw, and, in the end, of his lips.

She wasn't sure how long she stayed there, immobile, watching him sleep peacefully.

She came back to earth when one of the piece of wood inside the fire crackled loudly. Elizabeth looked around and shook her head, trying to remember what she needed to do.

She started to pile everything that could burn that she could find inside the rum-runners cellar near the palms, then she used the old fire to start the new one. She used what little rum there was left in their bottles to help the fire to raise up then, when the sun was starting to come up, she started to add whole barrels. The rum's barrels started to explode and the fire got so high that the palm started to burn, just like she planned.

"No! Not good! Stop!" She felt Jack screaming at her. The rumors and the smoke woke him up. He was waving his arms, making her want to laugh "Not good! What are you doing? You burned all the food, the shade! The rum!" Until the last thing, he had a point. Rolling her eyes, she turned around.

"Yes, the rum is gone." She smirked evilly to him.

"Why is the rum gone?" He was desperate, like a kid that was punished for something he didn't do.

"One, because it is a vile drink that turns even the most respectable men into complete scoundrels." She was serious as death, Jack probably couldn't even remember the kiss from the previous night because of it. She was partly relived and partly sad about it. "Two, that signal is over a thousand feet high. The entire Royal Navy is out looking for me, do you really think that there is even the slightest chance that they won't see it?"

"But why is the rum gone?" He was insufferable but cute, she couldn't really stay angry, but it was better if she didn't show it. She sat herself on the beach.

"Just wait, Captain Sparrow. You give it one hour, maybe two, keep a weather eye out and then you will see white sails on that horizon." She felt him moving behind her but she didn't turn. "And I'm not completely heart less. I left you a bottle near the cellar."

Without even turning she could tell that Jack had scampered off to get it. She smiled and turned slightly to watch him walk away from her, probably to go somewhere where he could brood a little about the loss of almost all the rum.

She looked at the horizon, hoping that her plan worked or else Jack would become even more insufferable and they would have nothing to drink, or eat, or rest under.

After maybe fifteen minutes she saw him coming back, a scowl on his face.

"I saw that ship, Dauntless, wasn't it? It's coming for ye." He said pointing to a direction somewhere behind him. "Give them ten minutes."

She smirked but was smart enough to know when not to taunt him, he would be impossible if she started to say 'I told you so'.

"I suggest that you drink that rum, they won't let you keep it." She only heard a grunt in answer, but when she turned she saw Jack taking big gulp from the bottle. He had almost finished the whole thing. It amazed her how much he could drink without completely lose his self-awareness. Even the evening before she had to restock his bottle two times before he fell asleep. And even after all the drinks he had been pleasant to be with, not the scoundrel that she had expected him to become. Elizabeth started to think that maybe the rum did not make a scoundrel, but the person that drink it did, because when drunk you let your true self out, without the restriction of the society.

When James and her Father, together with at least ten soldier, came to the beach she wasn't surprised.

"Dad!" She ran in is arms, happy to see him again after those last long days.

"I am so relieved that you are alive my dear." Her father hugged her fiercely. "I was so afraid for your wellbeing. Those monsters hurt you, my dear?"

"No, father, I only have a little cut on my hand, they never touched me." She explained smiling at him.

"Miss Swann, Governor, I suggest that we continue this conversation on board of the ship." Smirking James looked behind her, where Jack was looking at the scene with boredom. "Jack Sparrow..."

" _Captain_ Jack Sparrow." Both her and Jack corrected him. He smiled briefly at her.

"I think it's very fortunate of me, finding you on this spit of land. The gallows were waiting for you, I'm sure everyone will be happy to see you return for the ceremony."

"I'm sure they will." He was caressing his neck with one hand, a little fear on his face.

"James, he saved me again, don't punish him for sins that are not his own." Elizabeth tried to help.

"But you see, Miss Swann, he had sinned too much for me to let him go. I am bound by the law." He answered her, no pity at all in his eyes for the pirate.

Without adding anything else he turned and gave signal for his men to take Jack. They reached the longboat and rowed back to the Dauntless.

"We need to make a plan." Elizabeth said when both James and her father got on board. She may be unable to help Jack, but she would help Will.

"We do not need to do such a thing, Elizabeth." Her father looked at her confused.

"But we've got to save Will!" She exclaimed starting to get angry.

"No. You're safe now. We will return to Port Royal immediately, not go gallivanting after pirates!"

How could her dad tell those things? He saw William grow up, he cared for him, just like her, even if in a different way.

"Then we condemn him to death." She was disgusted by the cowardice of the so-called men of her life. Will came to save her asking the help of a pirate, said pirate would have no problem helping her save William for the right prize, but the people that should care about Will wouldn't save him at all. She looked at their faces. James was looking at her with disapproval clearly displayed on his face, while her father looked at her with a little bit of exasperation, like he was trying to reason with a little kid.

"The boy's fate is regrettable, but, then, so was his decision to engage in piracy." Her father went on, every word he let out making her more and more nauseous.

"To rescue me. To prevent anything from happening to me." She reminded him.

"If I may be so bold as to inject my professional opinion." Jack passed her and went in front of James. "Think about it. The Black Pearl. The last real pirate threat in the Caribbean, mate. How can you pass that up?" He tried to bribe them. He didn't probably care for Will, but still it was a sad day when a blacksmith and a pirate had more courage than your own father, but she couldn't tell him that.

"By remembering that I serve others, Mr. Sparrow, not only myself." He turned around to leave them. She couldn't permit it.

She thought back at her thoughts of freedom that Jack and the past days had inspired in her and decided that Will wellbeing was more important than her own needs.

"Commodore, I beg you, please do this. For me." She said following him. "As a wedding gift." He turned his head toward her.

"Elizabeth." Her father was beside her, a happy smile on his lips. "Are you accepting the Commodore's proposal?"

"I am." She said, sealing her fate. She would never sail the seas, she would never live an adventure, she would never be free to truly love, she simply will never be free. Trapped in a gilded cage, in a world that she never found right for her. A caged Swann, like the one she saw in a petting zoo when she was little. Sad and alone. She was going to cry.

"A wedding! I love weddings…drinks all around!" Jacks screamed, giving her the time to put all her emotions in a box and lock it, so as not starting to cry for what she had just lost. "I know. "Clap him in irons," right?" He added when her future husband looked at him.

"Mr. Sparrow, you will accompany these fine men to the helm and provide us with the bearing to Isla de Muerta. You will then spend the rest of the voyage contemplating all possible meanings of the phrase "silent as the grave." Do I make myself clear?"

"Inescapably clear."

She looked while two guards escorted him to the helm, he was the one in the end that know the way. She saw the guards chaining him to the mast behind it, as to not let him escape.

"I need some clothes, father." Elizabeth said turning toward him.

"Oh my God, how could I leave you in such conditions for so long!" His father took of his jacket and put it on her shoulder before asking to Norrington for some clothes.

The best they could find was a uniform, she didn't care, she liked how the breeches and the shirt let her move so much easier than a long dress. She will be able to help with those clothes.

Jack said they will be at Isla de Muerta after midnight, so James decided to let all the men not needed take a nap, to be ready for when they'll need to fight against Barbossa's crew.

Elizabeth tried to sleep, but she couldn't. She was worried about Will, so she stayed on the upper deck, looking at the sun disappearing over the horizon.

"What's the plan?" Jack voice, coming from just behind her, made her jump a little.

"Jack!" She hissed at him.

"Sorry, luv. I had no intention of scaring you." She could tell from his smirk that he was lying.

"Sure. What plan?" She asked then remembering his question. "And how can you be here, you were chained to the mast." She looked down at his hands and she found no chain at all.

"Well, Miss Swann, I'm Captain Jack Sparrow." His smirk became larger and he gave her a little bow. "But let's not waste time with trivial things. I want to know your plan, ye know, to not marry the Commodore."

"I have every intention to marry him, Jack." She could feel the sadness in her own voice. How pathetic. She did what was needed of her to save Will.

"And here I thought that you loved the Whelp." She understood that he was talking about Will.

"I gave my word, I can't back from it." She said honestly. "For how much I would desire to."

"That's not a life for you, Lizzie." She turned and saw that the smirk had disappeared. "You were made to be free, to sail those seas. You are a pirate at heart, luv." He smiled at her.

"I am not such a thing."

"Oh, but you are, Lizzie. I could see the longing in your eyes when we talked about freedom, about the Pearl. Your eyes looked just like mine when I first understood what I wanted to do for the rest of me life." She trembled a little, knowing that if he remembered that part of the evening before, then he must remember even the kiss. "You see something you want and you take it. You manipulate people and trick them. You just did that on me, and you are trying to do it with the Commodore, even if you are trying to deny it to yourself. You won't marry him." His lips were less than an inch away from hers. "Pirate." He whispered to her.

Elizabeth couldn't move. He was right, she had no plan about backing from her accord with the Commodore, but she would never marry him. She would rather die than live her life as the good wife and mother for a man that could not understand her.

She looked up, fixing her eyes on Jack's. They were lust filled, just like hers probably were. This man, this pirate, understood her and made her feel things that she had never felt before. He was dangerous.

Jack eyes slipped down on her lips and she knew that he would kiss her. She couldn't let that happen. She loved Will, she always had, but when his lips touched her she forgot about it. The kiss was chaste and short, but still her heart started to beat faster.

"Maybe you should go back." She whispered putting some inches of space between them. "We are almost there. James and my father will be here shortly."

She was both relived and disappointed when Jack took a step back, not pursuing her.

"You may be right, Miss Swann." She didn't like to hear him change back to her surname. "Best let them believe that those irons can keep me chained." He smirked and went back to the mast, where she saw him put back the manacles.


	4. Chapter 4

**4 – Fighting for freedom**

Jack looked back for a second, the sound of the explosion distracting him from his fight with Barbossa.

He hoped that the boy had understood his plan and won't do anything stupid to endanger it.

"I'm gonna teach you the meaning of pain." One of Barbossa's men was telling Will when Elizabeth appeared from nowhere.

"Do you like pain?" She asked knocking the pirate with a heavy staff "Try wearing a corset."

Here she was, the stunning miss Swann, ready to battle and screw everything up for him. Jack never stopped fighting Barbossa hoping that at least with Lizzie help, the Whelp would be able to fucking break the damn curse, possibly without killing him in the process.

"Whose side is Jack on?" Elizabeth asked Will while helping him up. Jack wanted to roll his eyes at the stupid question, but he could not.

"At the moment?" Will answered her unsatisfactorily for Jack before they started to fight the three pirates together. In little time, they were able to string the pirates together. It was a funny thing to see.

Jack and Barbossa moved the fight outside the line of vision and Jack couldn't see what was happening, but when he heard a big boom he hoped that they both were okay.

Seconds after he saw Will running toward the chest, finally he could put the final touches on his brilliant plan.

Jack cut his hand and smeared the medallion with his blood before tossing it to the whelp.

He smirked, knowing that they had won, almost, but before he could tell anything Barbossa had took out his pistol and aimed it at Lizzie.

Jack heart would have stopped if he wasn't already dead. He couldn't let it happen. He took out his own pistol with that single shot that he had hoped to use to kill Barbossa, aimed and fired.

"Ten years you carry that pistol, and now you waste your shot." Barbossa mocked him, and for a second Jack believe him and did not care. He looked at his right, Elizabeth was safe, that was the most important thing, he still could kill Barbossa with his own sword.

"He didn't waste it." Will voice made him look away from Lizzie, he was beside the chest with the bloody medallions in his hand. He dropped them, breaking the curse.

Barbossa seeing that dropped the sword and opened his jacket, a big pool of blood started to spread on his white shirt. He looked up in his eyes, some tears running down his cheeks.

"I feel…cold." He whispered in awe before falling dead, an apple rolling away from his hand.

Jack looked at Elizabeth again, she was looking at Barbossa dead body, maybe a little relieved of the death of her kidnapper, then she closed her eyes for a second, took a big breath and started to walk away from the corpse. She started to look around her at the treasure, her eyes sparkling a little.

Looking at her like that Jack could see her pirate heart. He was sure that with the right teacher and a little time at sea, Lizzie could become a fearsome pirate, maybe even a Captain. He wanted to go to her, talking her into sailing on the black pearl, but then he saw the Whelp beat him on it.

Elizabeth turned and saw William. Their eyes met and Jack saw the love they felt for one another, he felt a little constriction in the place where his heart was, he blamed the fact that his heart just started to beat again. He turned around and started to inspect the treasure.

After taking some pieces he swaggered toward the Whelp, Elizabeth wasn't beside him anymore.

"If you were waiting for the opportune moment…that was it." He mocked him, not feeling guilt at all when the boy looked sadly at him. "Now, if you'll be so kind, I'd be much obliged if you'd drop me off my ship."

Elizabeth turned around and looked at him strangely, he wanted to ask her why the sad look but she started to walk toward the longboat.

He shook his shoulder and followed her, William behind him.

When he got to the mouth of the cave he understood Elizabeth expression. His ship, the _Black Pearl_ , wasn't there anymore. He sighed and still get inside the longboat. He had no choice, if he wanted to go back on true land he would have to go with the Commodore, hoping to be able to avoid his hanging in some way

"I'm sorry, Jack." Elizabeth said to him when William started to row toward the _Dauntless_.

"They done what's right by them. Can't expect more than that." He felt her hand on his arm, but he didn't turn around.

When they got to the ship, Norrington smirked down at him.

"Put him on the brig, together with the other scoundrels." the commodore said to two of his men.

The travel back to Port Royal was boring and uneventful. Jack had almost expected the Pearl to come back to save him, but the three days needed to reach the port passed and that did not happen.

He had been put in a single cell, the commodore was probably afraid that if put with the other he could find a way to escape. He was always alone but for that short hours during the night when Lizzie came down, keeping him company.

"If I could I would let you go Jack." She said to him the last night. "But I couldn't find the keys for the cell or the manacles, I'm so sorry."

He smiled kindly at her and took one of her hands in his through the cell's bars.

"You did me a favor enough by searching for them, luv. Don't worry about me, I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, I will find a way to save meself." He smirked trying to reassure her, even if he didn't have lot of faith in his own abilities.

They reached Port Royal midafternoon on the third day of navigation, the commodore did not waste time to arrange his execution the next day.

Lizzie came again that last night, she cried a little for him and herself too. The commodore told her that he had hired a woman to help her with the details for their wedding.

"I can't marry him, Jack." She whispered to him. "I love Will." Hearing that made Jack feel that strange painful contraction again, but he ignored it, trying to soothe Elizabeth.

They talked for a while, until it was time for Elizabeth to sneak back inside her house, or else she would be found out.

"Don't come tomorrow." Jack said to her, not wanting to see her crying at his execution. He didn't want to die with her sad face as his last image of her.

"I won't stay away, Jack." She told him. "My father and the commodore too had already asked me, saying that it wasn't something I should watch. They know that your death will hurt me, but if they want to go through it I want them to see me suffer."

He could understand her, so he said nothing more about it and with a last kiss on the back of her hand he let her go.

In the morning, before the commodore's men came from him, William came see him.

"I wanted to thank you, Jack." The boy said. "I would love to free you, but the commodore made so that my trick won't work anymore on this new door."

The chatted for some minutes, William asking him the questions about his father that no one else could answer.

"Thank you, Jack, for coming back. You are a good man." William said before going away, hearing the guards coming down.

Jack thought back at both Elizabeth and William words. He had gone soft lately.

With a sigh and a smirk, he let the guard bring him away, toward Fort Charles and the gallows. At least he won't have to think about his pact with Davy Jones. He will be free, dead, but free.

"Jack Sparrow, be it known that you have…" one official started to read all the accuses.

"Captain, Captain Jack Sparrow." He hissed at him when he forgot about his title again. Why could no one remember about it?

"…for your willful commission of crimes against the crown. Said crimes being numerous in quantity and sinister in nature, the most egregious of these to be cited herewith – piracy, smuggling, impersonating an officer of the Spanish Royal Navy, impersonating a cleric of the Church of England…" He smiled at the last one. That had been a funny one.

"Ah, yes." He looked at the executioner that glared at him through his cape.

"…sailing under false colors, arson, kidnapping, looting, poaching, brigandage, pilfering, depravity, depredation, and general lawlessness. And for these crimes you have been sentenced to be, on this day, hung by the neck until dead. May God have mercy on your soul."

They didn't know half of it, but those crimes were still enough to be hanged.

He didn't want to die, not now nor ever, so he was happy when he saw William coming at him.

"Move!" The boy screamed throwing his sword in the same moment the executioner pulled the lever, letting the trapdoor open. The sword luckily got stuck in the wood of the trapdoor and he fell precariously on it.

Will start to fight with the hangman and during the fight they cut his rope, freeing him. Will push the executioner out of the platform, just when the commodore and his men reached it, stalling them for the time he needed to free his hands. They fought bravely all the way up to the tower from where Elizabeth had fallen just a week ago. Unluckily the men of the commodore cornered them in the end.

"I thought we might have to endure some manner of ill-conceived escape attempt but not from you." The commodore said to the whelp.

"On our return to Port Royal, I granted you clemency. And this is how you thank me? By throwing in your lot with him? He's a pirate!" The governor seemed angry so he hid behind William, knowing that the two men will be less likely to want to kill the boy to get him.

"And a good man." That made him smile. Jack pointed at himself and proudly mouth to the commodore's men "That's me." "If all I have achieved here is that the hangman will earn two pairs of boots instead of one, so be it. At least my conscience will be clear." The whelp was a little naive, but Jack had to admit that he was brave and loyal, just like his father had been.

"You forget your place, Turner."

"It's right here…between you and Jack." William said while the commodore had his sword at his neck.

"As is mine." Elizabeth put herself in front of him.

Jack heart skipped a beat, pride and a little fear making him smile at Lizzie brave gesture.

"Elizabeth! Lower your weapons." The men looked at the commodore for orders. "For goodness' sake put them down!" Relived Jack saw them lower the muskets.

"So, this is where your heart truly lies, then?" Norrington asked her sadly.

"It is."

Jack looked up and noticed a parrot, Cotton's parrot on a cannon.

"Well! I'm actually feeling rather good about this." He got around William and Elizabeth. "I think we've all arrived at a very special place, eh? Spiritually…Ecumenically…Grammatically?" He said to the governor, taking pleasure into breathing on his face. "I want you to know that I was rooting for you, mate. Know that." Never he had been less serious. He went back next to Elizabeth, sad to have to leave her behind. "Elizabeth." He said going back to his mocking tone, trying to hide any feeling at all. "It would never have worked between us, darling. I'm sorry." He walked away, hoping that she hadn't see what he had tried to hide. "Will." He turned around, wanting to ask him to look after Lizzie, but he decided to not to in the last moment. "Nice hat." He walked toward the battlement. "Friends! This is the day that you will always remember as the day that –" He pushed himself over, faking a fall to add a little drama to his exit.

He fell in the sea, he came up for air and looked one last time up, they were all looking down at him, bewildered that he had survived the fall. He smirked, turned around and saw his beloved ship.

When he reached it his men heaved him on board.

"I thought you were supposed to keep to the Code." He smirked at them, happy to see them all.

"We figured they were more actual…guidelines." Gibbs said with a smirk of his own, helping him up.

"Thank you." He said to cotton when he gave him back his precious hat.

"Captain Sparrow." Anamaria said, putting his coat on him. "The Black Pearl is yours."

Jack walked to the helm and look around himself fondly. He was home. He was free.

"On deck, you scabrous dogs! Man the braces! Let down and haul to run free." He screamed to them, he had a reputation to maintain. "Now...bring me that horizon." He started to hum a familiar song, a memory of fire and rum and sweet lips on his. He took out his compass and looked at it. "And really bad eggs, drink up, me 'earties, yo ho." He singed seeing the needle point toward fort Charles.


	5. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Elizabeth looked down, a little afraid that Jack could have not missed the rocks. Luckily, he did, she almost thought that he looked up at her, or maybe at them all.

"Idiot. He has nowhere to go but back to the noose." Gillette, Norrington first mate commented happily.

"Sail ho!" Someone screamed from behind them and when she looked at the horizon she saw the Black Pearl, coming to retrieve her Captain.

"What's your plan of action? Sir?" Gillette asked to the commodore.

"Perhaps on the rare occasion pursuing the right course demands an act of piracy, piracy itself can be the right course?" Her father proposed to him. The commodore smiled a little and seemed to accept it.

"Mr. Turner." He called and Will turned around. She stopped him, afraid of what would happen to him.

"I will accept the consequences of my actions." He whispered to her, squeezing her hand trying to reassure her.

"This is a beautiful sword." The commodore said while unsheathing his sword. Elizabeth knew that it was Will whom had made it. "I would expect the man who made it to show the same care and devotion in every aspect of his life." She could tell that it was both a threat and a gesture of faith.

"Thank you."

The commodore turned around and started to get out of Fort Charles, his men following him.

"Commodore! What about Sparrow?" Gillette asked making Elizabeth want to roll her eyes. Couldn't he drop the issue?

"Well, I think we can afford to give him one day's head start." No, he really couldn't, seeing that the Pearl was the fastest ship in the Caribbean, maybe even the whole world, but she won't go remind him about that.

All the soldier left, leaving only her with her father and Will.

"So, this is the path you've chosen, is it? After all…he is a blacksmith." Her father looked at her, a smile on his face but an insecure voice. He was probably scared for her sake.

"No." She took off Will's hat "He's a pirate." She didn't look at her father, she couldn't take her eyes away from Will. He brought his lips upon hers and kissed her for the first time. It was beautiful and sweet. She ended it after some moment and turned toward the ocean still holding Will hand.

Elizabeth could still see the Pearl, it was already little more than a dot on the horizon. She was a little sad, seeing the ship sailing away, taking with her Jack and his promises of freedom.

She looked back at Will and smiled. She loved him, she was sure of that, but then why his kiss didn't make her feel free like the one with Jack had?

 **The End... for now.**

A.N. No flame thanks. I warned you that this first story would have been a lot more Willabeth than Sparrabeth. Still I hope that you liked the little fluffy Sparrabeth moments that my change in the plot let me put.

See you in the next installment!

Love

Sara


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